Bob
So, you are learning Esperanto.
You have studied vocabulary. You have practiced the accusative. You may have confidently said Saluton! to someone who did not understand why you were speaking an international constructed language to them in the grocery store.
Now you want to do something more exciting than another worksheet.
Good news: you can play video games.
Esperanto may not have the enormous gaming library of English, Japanese, or Spanish, but there are still visual novels, card games, mobile adventures, vocabulary quizzes, grammar exercises, role-playing games, and wonderfully strange indie projects available in or connected to the language.
Some were created specifically to teach Esperanto. Others are full games that happen to include an Esperanto translation. A few are free, while others cost about as much as a standard indie game.
Here are 10 places to begin your Esperanto gaming adventure.
1. The Expression Amrilato
Best for: Visual-novel fans who want to learn through a story
Imagine being transported to another world where you cannot understand what anyone is saying.
For most people, this would be alarming.
For Esperanto learners, it is apparently a study opportunity.
The Expression Amrilato is a romantic visual novel about a young woman who enters another world and encounters a language called Juliamo. Although Juliamo is presented as a fictional language within the story, it is based heavily on Esperanto.
As the main character slowly learns to communicate, the player learns along with her. Vocabulary, pronunciation, and language lessons become part of the story instead of feeling like a separate textbook assignment.
The game is especially interesting because not understanding the language is not merely a gameplay inconvenience. It is central to the character’s emotional experience. Communication, loneliness, friendship, and connection all become part of the adventure.
This is probably the most substantial choice for players who want an Esperanto-related game with a developed story and polished presentation.
Typical price: $24.99 USD, although sales may reduce the price
Platforms: Windows PC
Where to find it:
Why Esperanto learners may like it: You experience the confusion and gradual satisfaction of learning a new language alongside the protagonist.
2. Falos
Best for: Beginners who want vocabulary practice disguised as an arcade game
Falos aims to help players recognize more than 100 words in more than 100 languages—including Esperanto.
Rather than presenting a traditional flash-card screen, it turns vocabulary recognition into several small action games. Players guide characters toward the correct images or words while avoiding wrong answers and other obstacles.
Its modes include variations involving jumping, flying, running, and a snake-style challenge. The basic idea is simple: recognize the correct vocabulary quickly enough to keep playing.
This makes Falos useful for learners who know that studying is important but whose brains immediately leave the room when they see a stack of flash cards.
Price: $0 – Free video game
Platform: Windows PC, Linux
Where to find it:
Why Esperanto learners may like it: It combines basic reading practice with repetition, movement, and immediate feedback.
Best use: Practice common words in short sessions alongside a more complete language course.
3. Manludo
Best for: Anyone who wants rock-paper-scissors with aliens and Esperanto
You are trapped aboard an extraterrestrial space station.
To escape, you must defeat three aliens.
Naturally, the fate of your journey will be determined through rock, paper, scissors.
Manludo—literally “hand game”—is a short, free game that supports Esperanto. It adds bluffing, where you lie to aliens, and character interactions to the familiar hand game, giving players a small but memorable reason to encounter the language.
The premise is delightfully weird, the commitment is low, and the price is difficult to argue with.
Price: Free
Platforms: Windows, Linux, and any modern internet browser on any device
Where to find it:
Why Esperanto learners may like it: It provides a manageable amount of Esperanto in a playful setting rather than overwhelming beginners with pages of text.
4. Slay the Spire
Best for: People who want a complete, highly replayable game in Esperanto
Not every Esperanto game needs to be an educational quiz.
Sometimes you want to build a deck of magical cards, battle strange monsters, collect mysterious relics, and make one terrible strategic decision that ruins a run you have been playing for 45 minutes.
Slay the Spire combines deck-building strategy with roguelike progression. Players choose a character, build a card deck, and climb a constantly changing tower filled with enemies, events, merchants, and bosses.
The game has supported an Esperanto localization, making it one of the most significant mainstream games associated with the language.
That matters because immersion is not only about explicitly studying grammar. Playing a complex game in Esperanto forces you to encounter verbs, objects, actions, descriptions, numbers, and repeated interface vocabulary in context.
Typical price: $24.99 USD, with periodic sales
Platforms: PC, consoles, and mobile devices; language availability can differ by version
Where to find it:
Why Esperanto learners may like it: Repeated card effects and interface terms can reinforce vocabulary naturally over many hours of play.
Potential side effect: You may learn the Esperanto word for “poison” before learning how to describe your own kitchen.
5. Super Jetpack Lizard
Best for: Mobile players who want a free Esperanto-friendly adventure
Sometimes you do not need an enormous narrative or a complicated grammar lesson.
Sometimes you need a lizard.
With a jetpack.
Super Jetpack Lizard is a free mobile game available through major app stores. It offers an accessible option for people who want to find games connected to Esperanto without purchasing a computer title.
The menu is in Esperanto, however there is not much text in the video game to learn from.
Because mobile-store availability and device compatibility can change, check the current listing for language support and whether the app works with your operating-system version.
Price: Free
Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, and Amazon devices
Where to find it:
Why Esperanto learners may like it: It offers a casual way to make Esperanto part of ordinary mobile gaming rather than reserving it only for formal study.
Also: The phrase “super jetpack lizard” sounds surprisingly natural in Esperanto-gaming culture.
6. What the Shell
Best for: People who enjoy quick board-game-style challenges
What the Shell is a free digital board game available for iPad.
It offers another example of an indie developer making Esperanto available in a type of game that is not exclusively designed as a language lesson.
There is not much text in the video game. With the game play similar to the game Go.
This is important. Esperanto survives and grows not only when people study it, but when they can use it while doing ordinary things—reading stories, watching videos, chatting with friends, and playing games.
Price: Free
Platform: iPad
Where to find it:
Check the App Store listing for current device compatibility and availability in your region.
Why Esperanto learners may like it: It provides a small, approachable environment for using the language during play.
7. Vortludo Rapida
Best for: Testing how quickly you recognize Esperanto words
Do you know an Esperanto word?
Great.
Do you still know it when a timer is running and three completely unrelated answers are staring at you?
That is the idea behind Vortludo Rapida, or “Fast Word Game.”
The game presents a description and asks the player to select the correct Esperanto word before time runs out. Incorrect options are drawn from other categories, making the challenge harder than simply choosing among four nearly identical terms.
For example, the description may refer to an animal, but the wrong answers could include a type of clothing, a food, and a building material.
Your vocabulary knows the answer.
Your panicking brain may select “sock.”
How it works
- Read the Esperanto word description.
- Review the possible answers.
- Select the correct word before time expires.
- Earn more points by answering quickly.
- Progress to increasingly difficult descriptions.
Features
- Multiple difficulty levels
- Randomized incorrect answers
- A growing vocabulary database
- Words covering animals, food, materials, clothing, places, and more
- Time-based scoring
- High-score tracking
The game was developed using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, with a structured Esperanto vocabulary database.
Price: Depends on where the developer publishes it
Platform: Web browser
Where to find it: Look for the game through its developer’s website or Esperanto-game directories. The publisher should add a direct play link here when available.
Why Esperanto learners may like it: It tests active recognition under pressure and reveals which words you truly know rather than merely recognize after several minutes of thought.
8. Akuzativa Ekzercilo
Best for: Finally making peace with the accusative ending
Every Esperanto learner eventually meets the letter -n.
At first, it seems friendly.
Then it starts appearing on nouns and adjectives, and suddenly you are trying to remember who is doing what to whom.
Akuzativa Ekzercilo is an interactive browser game designed to help learners practice the Esperanto accusative case. Players drag the correct noun form into gaps within sentences and receive immediate feedback.
The possible forms include:
- Singular subject form: -o
- Singular accusative form: -on
- Plural subject form: -oj
- Plural accusative form: -ojn
The exercise includes three difficulty levels and both randomized and sequential play modes. Its interface puts Esperanto first while retaining English support for learners who need it.
How it works
- Read the sentence.
- Determine the noun’s role.
- Choose the correct singular or plural form.
- Drag it into the gap.
- Receive immediate feedback.
- Continue to more complicated sentences.
The project was developed with assistance from ChatGPT and a curated collection of Esperanto sentences.
Price: Not specified
Platform: Web browser
Where to find it: Add the developer’s official browser-game link when published.
Why Esperanto learners may like it: It transforms one of Esperanto’s most frequently discussed grammar points into a repeatable, interactive exercise.
Emotional outcome: Eventually, you may see -n without immediately whispering, “Why?”
9. Esperanta Aventuro
Best for: Fans of classic role-playing games
Esperanta Aventuro is an unfinished role-playing game inspired by classic titles such as Final Fantasy.
Its most useful language-learning feature is its bilingual presentation. Text boxes include both Esperanto and English, allowing players to compare the two languages while following the story.
That makes the game more accessible to beginners who are not yet ready to play an entirely untranslated RPG.
The available version contains approximately one hour and 30 minutes of gameplay. It features turn-based combat, an explorable world, charming graphics, and a developing storyline.
Although the project is incomplete, it demonstrates how Esperanto can function inside a traditional adventure rather than only appearing in drills and vocabulary exercises.
Price: Pay what you want
Platform: Check the current download page
Where to find it:
Why Esperanto learners may like it: Bilingual dialogue lets players learn in context without becoming completely lost.
Why RPG fans may like it: It offers an actual world to explore, battles to fight, and characters to meet—not merely a digital workbook wearing a wizard hat.
10. The Esperanto Games Collection on Itch.io
Best for: Discovering tiny, strange, and experimental projects
If you want to explore beyond the best-known titles, Itch.io is one of the most useful places to search.
The platform hosts independent games created by solo developers, hobbyists, students, language enthusiasts, and small teams. Projects range from polished downloadable releases to tiny browser experiments made during game jams.
Some are free. Some let you choose how much to pay. Others charge a small fixed price.
Search results may include:
- Vocabulary games
- Short adventures
- Visual novels
- Grammar exercises
- Game-jam experiments
- Interactive fiction
- Early development demos
- Bilingual projects
Price: Free, fixed-price, or pay what you want
Platforms: Browser, Windows, macOS, Linux, and sometimes mobile
Where to find them:
Because Itch.io search results change as new projects appear, bookmark the page and check again occasionally.
Why Esperanto learners may like it: It is one of the easiest places to discover small community-made games that might never reach Steam or a major app store.
Which Esperanto game should you try first?
Choose The Expression Amrilato if you want a polished story and enjoy visual novels.
Choose Slay the Spire if you want a complete commercial game with enormous replay value.
Choose Falos if you are a beginner who wants to practice basic vocabulary.
Choose Manludo if you want something free, short, and delightfully strange.
Choose Akuzativa Ekzercilo if the accusative ending has become your personal linguistic enemy.
Choose Esperanta Aventuro if you prefer classic RPGs and bilingual dialogue.
Choose Vortludo Rapida if you want to test your vocabulary against the clock.
And search Itch.io when you want to see what independent Esperanto developers are creating next.
Can video games actually help you learn Esperanto?
Yes—with one important limitation.
Playing games can strengthen vocabulary, reading speed, pattern recognition, and comfort with the language. Games also give words a purpose. Instead of memorizing that a word means “shield,” you may need to understand it because a monster is currently attempting to remove your remaining health points.
That context helps.
However, games work best as one part of a broader learning routine. Combine them with:
- An Esperanto course
- Conversation practice
- Books and short stories
- Videos or podcasts
- Grammar references
- Flash cards
- Esperanto communities
- Real writing and speaking
A game can motivate you to spend more time with the language, but it may not systematically teach every grammar rule or conversational skill.
In other words, defeating a boss in Esperanto is progress.
It does not automatically mean you can explain your dental insurance at an Esperanto congress.
How to find more video games in Esperanto
Search storefronts and community sites using both English and Esperanto terms:
- Esperanto
- Esperanto language
- Ludoj en Esperanto
- Videoludoj en Esperanto
- Esperanto game
- Esperanto translation
Useful places to search include:
- Steam
- Itch.io
- GOG
- Google Play
- Apple’s App Store
- GitHub
- Esperanto forums
- Reddit’s Esperanto communities
- Discord communities for constructed languages
- The Esperanto Wikipedia and community wikis
On Steam, always examine the game’s language table. A community curator may recommend a title even when Esperanto is available through a fan translation rather than included in every official release.
On mobile stores, check when the app was last updated. An older game may still be listed but may not work on the newest device or operating system.
Why Esperanto needs more video games
Esperanto was designed to make international communication easier, but a language becomes truly enjoyable when people can do more than study it.
People need stories.
They need jokes.
They need adventures.
They need multiplayer matches, terrible strategic decisions, alien rock-paper-scissors tournaments, and heroic lizards equipped with jetpacks.
Games create places where Esperanto can be used naturally. They give learners reasons to read quickly, remember vocabulary, understand instructions, and continue even after making mistakes.
They also demonstrate that Esperanto is not merely a historical experiment or classroom subject. It is a living language that people use to make things.
Sometimes those things are educational exercises.
Sometimes those things are card-battling dungeon crawlers.
Both count.
Final thought
The Esperanto gaming world is small, but it is much larger and stranger than many people expect.
You can learn through a romantic visual novel, fight monsters with cards, practice the accusative, explore an RPG, bluff against aliens, fly with a jetpack, or browse dozens of independent experiments.
Will playing these games make you instantly fluent?
Probably not.
Will they make studying more entertaining than reading the same grammar chart for the ninth time?
Kompreneble.
That means “of course.”
Look at you—you are already learning.
